Immunoassay method for pro-gastrin-releasing peptide
AssigneesAbbott Laboratories, Abbott Japan Co., Ltd.
InventorsToru Yoshimura, Kenju Fujita, Barry L. Dowell
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Abstract
To provide a more convenient and more accurate method of assaying ProGRP by improving the stability of ProGRP which is known to be unstable in a biological sample. By using a blood sample in a condition in which a blood coagulation factor is not activated is used as a sample, the degradation of ProGRP is suppressed, whereby it is possible to store a sample for a long period of time and to improve the accuracy of an assay.
Claims15
A method of assaying ProGRP in a blood sample, wherein a blood sample in a condition in which one or more blood coagulation factors are not activated is used as the sample.
A method of improving the in vivo stability of a serum sample containing ProGRP comprising the step of adding to a serum sample containing ProGRP obtained from a subject a stabilizing amount of at least one serum protease inhibitor.
A ProGRP-stabilizing composition, wherein said composition comprises at least one serine protease inhibitor.
A kit for stabilizing ProGRP in a serum sample, the kit comprising:
- (a) at least one serum protease inhibitor;
- and
- (b) instructions for using the kit.
The kit of claim 15 wherein the at least one serum protease inhibitor is phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.